Thursday, 11 November 2010

How is physical disability represented?

Tourettes syndrome is a physical disibility. People that have tourettes have difficulty in controlling their behaviour and tend to say or do whatever is on their mind without thinking beforehand.

The people on this video clip are on a documentary about people who suffer from tourettes. They are represented by being portrayed as overall very happy and joyful characters. This is shown by the fact that they are usually laughing and making jokes. It is also suggested because they are not seen to be upset or ‘down’ because of the disability but seem to be smiling throughout the clip. This therefore shows that the disability doesn’t have much of effect on them as they are not really bothered about it as they seem to be happy. This shows that the disability doesn’t affect their feelings.

They could also be seen to be represented as quite rude characters because they don’t have any thought or consideration as to what they are saying, or the effect it will have on other people. Therefore, the word choices or language that they use could be found quite insulting to some. Also, the fact that they have the tendency to laugh about their comments after they have said it could also cause it to be represented as insulting because it could suggest that they are doing it purposely. This also represents them as to not really caring, although they can’t help it as it is due to the condition that they suffer from.

Overall, the clip represents a sign of sympathy towards the characters as they can’t physically do anything about their illness, even though they might not want or need for sympathy because they don’t seem to be too bothered by their condition. The disability could also represent the sufferers to be inconsiderate due to the fact that they say whatever is on their mind without realising, and therefore don’t have any time to think about how it will affect other people’s feelings.